Vineyard....legit.

We took the plunge and made it official. Jodi got the paperwork done and the vineyard is officially named "Leaping Fox Vineyard, LLC". So, it's a bit off from the original "Elsa Run Vineyard". We figured it wasn't fair to little Nadia but hey, she wasn't around back then! Leaping Fox came from me watching a fox cruising through the vineyard in the snow. He/she disappeared from view down towards the creek below a little knoll that sits on the property. Out of nowhere the fox leaps into view then drops out of view again. This happened a couple of times. I found it odd but intriguing, certainly entertaining to watch! I figure it was drumming up a mole or something and was playing with its food! Wah la....Leaping Fox Vineyard. Just in case you were wondering. -s

Winter 2008 and the Vineyard

It's farming. Nothing goes on in the winter right? Wrong! I've been spending what little free time I've had, away from the studio and either working in the vineyard or doing vineyard related things. As much as I would prefer being at the beach and diving, I've been suiting up in the ole trusty Carhart's (and yes, it is quite a fashion statement!) and clearing tree-lines, building fences, augering fence posts, and carrying lumber around the property. Sounds like fun right? At one point I did start to question if I was doing the right thing- I mean, doing all the work myself. Upon running the numbers this morning, yup, very glad that I'm doing things myself. We're coming in under budget and I'm THRILLED! So, where're we at?


Trellis + fence! The order came! That was about where the excitement ended. I guess I really should have asked them to bring a forklift as well. Nobody died, that was the good thing. I did however probably kill my tractor and my nerves trying to unload almost 9,000 board feet of lumber from a flatbed. Seriously, there's nothing wrong with a semi, sitting in your frozen field, full of lumberwhile the frozen earth begins to warm, slowly sucking the semi's tires into the earth. If it had taken an extra half hour we would have had to bring a wrecker as well. Eeek. Oh yeah, and to the lady driving the Mercedes on Pageland Lane that morning who, while the semi was taking a wide turn into the driveway, decided that she would cut it off on the inside at top speed.... I truly hope you never run into a trucker like this again who isn't quick on the brakes. You should have died and it would have been all your own fault. F U mercedes lady.

So, to date I've put in a bit over 250 posts, 79 end posts (8-9" X 8'), and around 30 (4" X 10') posts for the deer fence. I figure I still have around 200 more posts to go. We changed the original layout of the deer fence line to encompass more of the surrounding area around the house. This will eliminate running deer fence through the backyard and takes greater advantage of the existing property fence line. This also means that plant and flower borders around the house itself will be protected. Um, or that's what's supposed to happen. The deer have come back with a vengeance now that deer season is over and the fields are full of lovely treats for Elsa and Nadia to eat. Shiny coats and all that! Now, as part of the fence changes- I have yet another 300+ feet of three-board fence to do to fully enclose the property. I've purposely made this fence a bit higher than normal and the jury is out on whether or not I will need to add a hot wire to the top and bottom of the fence for critter control. For those looking for supplies- all the trellis posts came from ACME lumber out in WV. I HIGHLY recommend calling them. Their prices were super cheap even compared to the Farm Co-op.

Deerbusters! Public enemy #1....."the deer". I placed an order today with Deerbusters.com for, what I hope to be, all my deer fence needs. 1900' of extra-strength 7.5' tall deer fence, a couple of gates and all the extra little bits to get it all attached. I've heard that this can be a hit or miss project so I'll let you know how it goes.

Vines. I had a heart stopping phone call from Ute at Grafted Grapevines up in NY. Seems that due to the extreme heat last year and a problem with their irrigation that they had trouble with their Viognier #1's that we ordered. For a brief moment there I thought that we wouldn't have any Viognier at all this year. Phewww. She apologized and said that she could accommodate our order but would have to use #2's instead. Though we would have preferred the #1's to get a bit more of a growth headstart, by all accounts her #2 vines are fantastic and she cut us a break on pricing.

Nadia. 33+ lbs now. She's going to be a big girl and is nothing short of "tank-linke" in her approach to things. If dad's in the vineyard, then she's right there as well! Elsa prefers the couch in front of the tv!














The Viognier section with trellis posts










Truck o' wood










Nadia keeps an eye on her sister!